菲利普·羅斯
美國文學的巨匠
The books that we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.
我們愛的書，它們也愛我們。正如我們在書頁中標記位置，那些書頁也在我們身上留下印記。
I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you—it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.
我不能也不愿生活在謹慎的世界里，至少作為作家不行。我向你保證，我寧愿如此——那樣生活會更容易。但不幸的是，謹慎不適合小說家。
The pleasure isn’t in owning the person. The pleasure is this. Having another contender in the room with you.
快樂不在于占有這個人?？鞓吩谟诖?。房間里有了另一個競爭者。
The only obsession everyone wants: ‘love.’ People think that in falling in love they make themselves whole? The Platonic union of souls? I think otherwise. I think you’re whole before you begin. And the love fractures you. You’re whole, and then you’re cracked open.
I write fiction and I’m told it’s autobiography, I write autobiography and I’m told it’s fiction, so since I’m so dim and they’re so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn’t.
我寫小說，人們說那是自傳；我寫自傳，人們說那是小說。既然我這么笨，他們這么聰明，那就讓他們決定是什么或不是什么吧。
The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It’s getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again.
The writer’s life is a meaningless question. I’m interested in the books.
作家的生活是一個毫無意義的問題。我對書感興趣。
文學不是一場道德選美比賽。
I don’t ask writers about their work habits. I really don’t care. Joyce Carol Oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re actually trying to find out, ‘Is he as crazy as I am?’ I don’t need that question answered.
我不問作家關于他們的工作習慣。我真的不在乎。喬伊斯·卡羅爾·歐茨在某個地方說過，當作家們互相詢問他們什么時候開始工作，什么時候結束，以及午餐花多長時間時，他們實際上是在試圖找出，“他和我一樣瘋狂嗎？”我不需要這個問題的答案。
The writer’s life is a life of obsession.
作家的生活是一種癡迷的生活。
The novel is the great art form of the human condition.
小說是人類處境的偉大藝術形式。
The writer’s life is a life of struggle.
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